Hill and his wife, Brenda, don't intend to make the same mistake with their son, a 7th grader at Gwendolyn Brooks Junior High in Harvey. Duane Jr. is among the first youngsters participating in a new college preparation program that begins in middle school and follows the same students through high school graduation.

The $2.6 million Harvey School District 152 program called Champion Project uses community partnerships, teachers and parents to provide 7th-grade students with daily after-school and summertime academic courses, tutors, mentors, college preparatory workshops and community service activities. Participation is voluntary; so far 140 of the district's 325 7th graders have signed up.

The project, financed primarily through the U.S. Department of Education, also will provide parents with a network of resources, including workshops on how to apply to and finance college as well as adult education and career development programs.

Under the federal program, called GEAR-UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs), schools will work with the same students and their parents from junior high through high school in an effort to increase college enrollment among students from low-income areas.

In District 152, the challenge is especially difficult. Standardized test scores in math and reading have routinely wallowed below state averages, despite efforts to improve.

"We want students to dream, to set goals and go to college," said Harvey Assistant Supt. Betty Owens. "We don't want them to feel like they're locked into any particular economic status or social situation."

But such dreams often vanish in Harvey.

Over the years, district officials say they have watched young students with promise grow up and graduate to street corners and drug houses.

District officials say fewer than 8 percent of Harvey residents hold bachelor's degrees, which might in part account for the 15 percent unemployment rate in a city of 20,000--nearly triple the national average.

More than 84 percent of Brooks' students live below the poverty line.

"So many young people can't see beyond their present environment and circumstances. So often our students and their families are forced to just deal with today," said Lela Bridges, district superintendent. "But if you can't see the future, why do anything to prepare for it? This program is an investment in a dream--a dream that will pay off for generations to come."

Brooks Principal Mattie Young said the Harvey project will give her 7th graders an advantage over their peers in similar economic situations. More importantly, she said, the Champion Project will convince parents that college is not out of reach.

She became pregnant at age 17, postponing goals of higher education. Now 31, she's struggling to balance parenting with taking courses to become a court reporter.

"I want him to succeed at whatever he chooses to be," Smith said of her son, Terrence Morton, 13, a 7th grader at Brooks. "With the world changing so rapidly with technology and computers, he can't afford to wait until he's 31 to begin looking into college."

GEAR-UP officials say the program aims to attack the social and economic obstacles that historically have hindered higher education among poor students, said David Condin, deputy director of the federal program.

Approved by President Clinton in October, GEAR-UP represents the first attempt by federal officials to improve college enrollment rates among students from low-income areas by targeting the middle-school grades.

"This is breaking the mold of early-intervention programs," Condin said.

According to recent studies by the U.S. Department of Education, high academic achievers from poor families are five times less likely to attend college.

GEAR-UP won't fully show results for four or five years, when students near the end of high school, administrators say.

But Condin said federal education officials are encouraged by several similar programs across the country, including the national I Have A Dream Foundation Dreamers program, which assists some 13,000 students in poor areas in partnership with 70 colleges and universities. Typically, the programs operate through private sponsors who adopt entire classes or a group of students living in public housing.

A 1997 University of Illinois-Chicago study that compared two Chicago-based I Have A Dream programs found 72 percent of participants graduated from high school, compared with 35 percent of classmates not enrolled. The study also found that 64 percent of I Have A Dream students went on to college, compared with only 18 percent of non-participants.